When her husband, Air Force Capt. Wilmer Newlin “Newk” Grubb, was shot down over North Vietnam in 1966, Grubb was left wondering what happened to her mate. She found solace by seeking out other military wives whose husbands had been captured in war and networking into groups.
Those groups became the National League of POW/MIA Families, and Grubb became the League’s national coordinator in Washington, D.C. “She went from being a stay-at-home mom who was growing increasingly frustrated over the lack of publicity about POWs,” said her son, Jeffrey, “to becoming a dynamo who headed a national organization and had regular meetings with presidents and heads of state.”
Although the Viet Cong released a photo of Capt. Grubb, Mrs. Grubb learned eight years later that he had been killed shortly after his capture, and believed he was tortured to death. She campaigned for the return of the remains of soldiers who died in captivity; her husband’s body was finally brought home in 1974. Mrs. Grubb died at her Florida home from breast cancer. She was 74.